Chapter 538: Liu Bang’s Talent and the Four Saints of the Militarist School

“Wow, I do envy Brother Xiang Yu!”

“He gets to fight the enemy who is as strong as him every time!”

“I’m different. I never have a chance to fight on the battlefield because my men have done everything for me before I do anything. Those people are truly ignorant of the rules. How can they do everything without giving their leader a chance to show off?”

Inside the Hongmen settlement, looking at Xiang Yu who still had advantages under the attack of four Fiery Mountain Giant Lords, Liu Bang remarked in mixed feelings.

“Master Pei, stop being a snob! The enemies are coming!”

Chu Yin, who had always been peaceful and graceful, yelled for the first time after she came to the Land of Inheritance.

It was because even though Xiang Yu blocked the Fiery Lords and the Mountain Giants, they weren’t the only two kinds of enemies.

Because a hundred alien races had landed everywhere in this round, and each settlement was confronting almost five of them on average.

Apart from the aliens that Xiang Yu stopped, there were another two types of villains who were marching to Hongmen in other directions.

One of them was a group of centaurs whose horns were like black enormous drills. They could transform into beasts and humanoids. The other group was the Snake Monkey that Dragon City had encountered during the A Hundred Vying Barges phase. They had the 19th-century technologies on Earth.

But at this moment, the Transcendent Snake Monkeys obviously had much more advanced technologies. Each of the Snake Monkeys had external skeletons that could transform into multiple forms, including spiders, octopuses, flying centipedes…

The external skeletons were even covered in a layer of force field, which froze the remote cannonballs that Dragon City launched.

Furthermore, the cannonballs were bounced back in the original trajectory. Several defense facilities were destroyed by the bounced cannonballs!

“Tsk, tsk. Not that we’re not trying hard enough, but the enemies are just too strong!”

Facing the aggressive aliens, Liu Bang spoke of another meme.

“The wind rises and the clouds are flying. I return to my hometown. I long for warriors that can defend my country!”

Then, he solemnly sang the Song of Great Wind, dropping his previous casualness.

His singing wasn’t enjoyable, and he would’ve been the first to be eliminated in the talent show games on Earth.

However, the “special effects” that came together with the song were quite astounding.

Clouds were rising all over the settlement, and upon touching the invisible wind, they formed different characters. Some were warriors, some ministers, some advisors, and some politicians… All of them were Transcendent!

Liu Bang’s talent ability was named “Han’s Heroes”. He could summon the projections of all heroes from the Han Dynasty and let them fight or even used their talent abilities!

Undoubtedly, the talent was almost as good as the “inherited” talents of the players.

Ji Ye didn’t know that the skill was unique to Liu Bang or open to all the emperors who founded a dynasty.

While Dragon City had summoned a lot of famous ministers and generals in history, Liu Bang was the only emperor so far. After all, Xiang Yu and Cao Cao weren’t real emperors.

The main reason why Liu Bang accepted Dragon City’s summoning was partly that he was still a bottom-level character when he sensed the ritual and partly because there were a lot of guys from the Han Dynasty in Dragon City.

While Dragon City had begun with the setting of Water Margin, most of the heroes from Water Margin were only Extraordinary.

The Transcendent heroes generally came from the setting of the Han Dynasty!

According to Su Nongying’s statistics, about one-fourth of the total population of Dragon City belonged to the Han Dynasty, and the ratio was one-third in the main settlement.

Liu Bang, as the founder of the Han Dynasty, was revered here even though he was not an emperor. Besides, he had the unusual talent of a dynasty’s founder and could play an important role like Xiang Yu.

“Han Xin!”

“Dou Xian!”

“Huo Qubing!”

“Ban Chao!”

The projections of the heroes from the Han Dynasty performed their talent abilities.

Thanks to all the enhancements, the previously “Common” defenders were instantly upgraded to Elites. Using the battle formations and the weapons that were prepared in advance, they were able to resist the aliens even though they couldn’t beat them.

“Everybody, let’s work harder!

“I’ve made a bet with Xiang Yu’s men! If we lose, they will have all the prizes in this round and vice versa. So, we’ll lose everything if we fail, but we’ll have double if we win!

“Also, I’ve made an arrangement with Chief Qin from the Kingdom of Girls settlement. As long as you win and distinguish yourselves in the battle, you’ll have the right to visit the Kingdom of Girls and associate with the female soldiers!”

After summoning a bunch of men to fight for him, Liu Bang continued speaking.

As a matter of fact, his talent ability was similar to Ji Ye’s Emperor’s Dragon Contract. As long as his subordinates fought for him, some of their credits would be transferred to him!

So, he naturally encouraged the soldiers to fight harder.

“Ohhhhhhhhh!”

Hearing that, the Han soldiers who were fighting on the battlefield roared, and their morale soared straightly!

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty!”

“We outnumber them. We’ll definitely win!”

A general, who was tall and strong and had protruding muscles on his cheeks, rumbled thunderously.

“Back then, the Overlord invited us and Your Majesty to dine at Hongmen. But the dinner didn’t go well!”

“Today, the situation has changed, and we can offer the same dinner to those aliens.”

“As for the ingredients…”

After that, he looked at the centaurs, which had transformed and were charging at the settlement, and put on a brutal smile. He then smashed the red dragon shield on the ground heavily.

“It will be you!”

The ground cracked abruptly, and a great amount of scorching flames erupted and gathered into an enormous red dragon, swallowing the Transcendent centaurs.

In only a few seconds, the fragrance of roast meat spread out.

Then, the brawny warrior seized the nearest centaur’s genitals and bit them hard in his mouth.

While eating, he waved the shield and continued fighting.

“Excellent. Medium rare horse meat. That’s what I’m talking about. I love the taste of blood!”

He was Fan Kuai, a Transcendent Rank-5 Quasi Boss, and the bravest warrior under Liu Bang’s command. He made great contributions to the establishment of Han.

“Well, not bad at all. It tastes wonderful!

“This explains why I cut the white snake and led the uprising in history. This is truly delicious.”

Liu Bang, on the other hand, picked up a piece of Snake Monkey’s meat, which had been roasted after its armor was broken. His eyes instantly glittered!

“Oh no, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty is interested in the Snake Monkeys. Will they go extinct soon?”

“Why do I feel that the centaurs are in great danger?”

“The situation seems quite urgent, but the people of Dragon City don’t seem nervous. Do they have other trump cards?”

The observers on Earth had different feelings.

However, Liu Bang, whilst having the meat, suddenly became nervous!

Boom!

It was because the Overlord of Western Chu had just beaten up a three-meter-tall giant, making it impossible to stand up again.

“Hiss… My brother is truly unimaginably strong, but we don’t have many advantages. Sister Chu Yin, please play a song and give them a buff.”

Liu Bang gasped hard and quickly said to Chu Yin.

“What would you like me to play, Master Pei, ‘Ambush From Ten Sides’?”

Chu Yin frowned.

“Certainly not ‘Ambush From Ten Sides’. Although we’re betting against Xiang Yu’s men, the aliens are our real enemies. We must not fight among ourselves when our enemies are still out there.”

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Liu Bang shook his head.

“Good!”

Chu Yin was greatly relieved after hearing that.

As an old player, she was sort of a supervisor in the troop. If Liu Bang insisted on provoking Xiang Yu under such circumstances, it would’ve been quite inconsiderate of him.

Fortunately, while the founder of the Han Dynasty looked like a rogue on the street, he knew what was the right thing to do…

“Huh, let’s play Farewell My Concubine!”

Chu Yin felt the urge of cursing again.

“Got it. That’s too inappropriate…”

Seeing the “killing intent” in Chu Yin’s eyes, Liu Bang quickly dropped his joke and looked at the two new alien species, which had already reached the first defense line.

“I was just kidding. Please play the Music of King Han Breaking up the Enemy’s Front!”

Then, his eyes and his tone became sharp.

Clang, clang, clang…

A soul-stirring pipa performance began.

It was just one musical instrument, yet it sounded like countless musical instruments were playing.

Although the noises of the battle were quite loud, everybody heard the sound of the pipa clearly. It was like an unparalleled emperor who was commanding his soldiers to fight the enemy. Under the pipa sound, the previously loose battle formations of the defenders became rigorous.

They were truly fighting the Transcendent aliens without being eclipsed at all.

The Music of King Han Breaking up the Enemy’s Front didn’t exist in real history.

However, Chu Yin had become such an expert of music that she was already able to create an impromptu song based on the situation on the battlefield.

Such a song that changed along with the battle was much more powerful than normal songs!

“Kill them all!”

“Kill those sons of bi*ches!”

The armies of Chu and Han, led by Xiang Yu and Liu Bang respectively, all fought fearlessly when they were all determined to prove that they were better than the other party.

As a result, even though the four alien groups were theoretically stronger, they were still suppressed by human beings.

…

“Changqing, your arrangement of the Chu’s and Han’s conflict is truly great. It seems that we don’t need to worry about the defense of Hongmen anymore.”

In Dreamland Dragon City, which was also protected by the settlement core, several men withdrew their gaze from the battlefield of Hongmen in a room that had a coverage of more than ten thousand squares.

The man called “Changqing” was a middle-aged man. He had glittering eyes, and the three long whiskers on his face made him look rather unique.

Next to him, a lot of bamboo and wooden slips were floating, on which a tremendous number of military strategies in ancient styles were written.

With a closer look, it could even be seen that the words on the bamboo and wooden slips were attacking each other using fire, tunnels, and even spies!

Obviously, it should be a military book, but it was not just any military book.

As a matter of fact, when the middle-aged man rolled the bamboo and wooden slips and held them in his head, the name of the book on the cover was shown—Master Sun’s Art of War.

Master Sun’s Art of War was the oldest military book as well as the earliest masterpiece on military strategies in the world. It was rated as Legendary on the Land of Inheritance.

It was written by Sun Wu, whose courtesy name was Changqing.

He was one of the Ten Sages in the King’s Temple and respected as the Military Sage!

“You flatter me. Chief Xiang and Chief Liu are both unparalleled heroes. Chief Xiang has also learned from the Militarist School too. How can he not know why I arranged them together?

“They noticed that I covered the battlefield with the military and directed the conflict of Chu and Han too. The morale couldn’t have been boosted if they hadn’t been willing to let go of their hate towards each other.

“Dragon City and humankind are truly lucky!”

When other people complimented him, Sun Wu shook his head and said solemnly.

“Besides, we must thank this heavy treasure named SkyNet. Otherwise, we can’t possibly implement military strategies from dozens of kilometers away.”

All four men were at the center of the room, and the entire continent was displayed as a holograph.

Every area on the holograph could be enlarged or reduced, making it possible to see what was going on on the battlefields. Even the detailed information on the numbers, levels, and comparison of the battle participants were displayed.

“This SkyNet is truly powerful. It’s almost an ultimate treasure of the Militarist School. If we had such treasures in the past, the world wouldn’t have been in chaos for hundreds of years.”

The man who spoke was also holding a Legendary military book written on bamboos. Its name was Wuzi!

Wuzi was one of the Seven Military Classics.

It was written by Wu Qi, who was a militarist, politician, and reformer at the beginning of the Warring States Period.

He was familiar with the philosophies of the Militarist School, the Legalist School, and the Confucian School, and he made great achievements in politics and the military. He was often compared to Sun Wu as another one of the Ten Sages.

“Indeed. The future generations divide the Militarist School into four factions: the scheme faction, the situation faction, and the yin-yang faction. Those three factions can only be carried out on the battlefield. However, the trick faction can defeat the enemy before the battle starts. The Transcendent units and heavy treasures are irresistible even to an army of a million regular soldiers.”

The third man was in a wheelchair. He was slim and sounded rather old.

A military book was floating in front of him too. It was Sun Bin’s Art of War, which was displaying the battle in another settlement.

Sun Bin was a militarist in the State of Qi in the Warring States Period and Sun Wu’s descendant.

The last man was also accompanied by a military book that was entitled Wei Liaozi.

Sun Wu, Wu Qi, Sun Bin, and Wei Liao were known as the Four Saints of the Militarist School. All of them were Legendary heroes.

Perhaps they were not as good as the commander-type generals when they led soldiers to battle, however, based on their expertise on military theories, they could cast skills remotely with the military books that they wrote, to make the troops move faster and behave more intimidatingly. They could even create a troop of a thousand soldiers out of thin air to reinforce a settlement that was in danger.

Most importantly, after they combined their talent abilities, by making use of the rest of the Seven Military Classics that the Master of Dragon City bought in the City of Humans, they could enable a Battlefield Deduction function that was in the Quasi Mythological level. They could figure out the aliens’ routes of attacks and predict what they would do next at the cost of power of providence.

Therefore, even though the four men were staying in Dreamland Dragon City, they could ensure the victory of the battle a thousand kilometers away!

“Getting to the bottom of it, the credit is all the City Master’s. If the SkyNet hadn’t gathered so much information, even if we had inferred what might happen, we wouldn’t have been able to manipulate the battle so easily!”

After remarking in mixed feelings for a while, they mentioned Ji Ye again.

“Shoot. The high-and-mighty Military Sages are adulators too? I feel like their images are collapsing in my heart.”

“It’s only natural. Those who are familiar with military classics all know the importance of pleasing their leaders.”

“Those heroes all appeared awed when they mentioned the City Master. I’m truly curious about the City Master!”

On Earth, the viewers who were watching the live stream became even more curious about how Ji Ye won the admiration of those heroes as a player.

“Tsk. They must’ve rehearsed this. You people love fake stuff.”

Of course, some people were jealous and disdainful.

However, the four great militarists were sincerely expressing their feelings.

Originally, although the SkyNet was a Transcendent heavy treasure, it wasn’t so powerful.

It didn’t become so powerful until Ji Ye fused the Legendary Stone of Civilization he acquired from the Road to Legendary quest so that it was upgraded into a Legendary heavy treasure.

In the SkyNet, Ji Ye even specifically established a channel for the strategic division. A lot of glowing names were in it just like those in the administration center. There were Xiang Yu, Bai Qi, Zhang Liang, Han Xin, Li Jing…

The names in the administration center were already shocking enough, but those in this channel were downright unimaginable.

Dragon City had acquired more than twenty Legendary offerings during the process of destroying Transcendent alien settlements.

After accomplishing the Road to Legendary quest, they bought more than twenty offerings in the City of Humans. Plus the players and the heroes who advanced from the Transcendent level such as Zhao Yun, Dragon City had more than fifty Legendary heroes.

More than half of the heroes were great warriors or commanders.

After they arrived in Dragon City, they communicated with each other and made even greater progress. It was also the reason why Dragon City was confident of resisting a hundred alien groups on its own.

“However, while we’re good at commanding, the scale of the enemies is much greater than ours. According to military strategies, you should surround the enemy if you have ten times as many soldiers, attack them if you have five times as many soldiers, divine and conquer them if you have twice as many soldiers, fight them if you have as many soldiers, and try to escape if you’re outnumbered.

“We’re outnumbered by the aliens, so we should voluntarily abandon some of our settlements and concentrate our soldiers on the other settlements. We can take advantage of teleportation and catch the aliens unprepared.

“Also, we need someone to hold back the aliens who conquer the abandoned settlements so that their reinforcements won’t be able to arrive in time!”